A Little Bit of Love

Philos Riddle and Rose Weasley wove their way through the throng of students until they finally reached the carriages. Rose immediately hopped onto the carriage but as always Philos stopped to stare at the skeletal animal before her. It snorted, tossing its sleek black head back as it did so. Of all creatures Philos adored Thestrals the most; they were intelligent, loyal, fast, and sly. But they were often misunderstood and very few of her classmates even knew that they existed. That tied into the reason why the people got the misconception that Thestrals were bad omens, they could only be seen by those who have seen death.

It was apparent that Philos had seen someone die; she'd always been able to see the death Pegasus since she first came to Hogwarts. But she couldn't remember who she'd seen die. That was perfectly fine though since it would only cause pain to know certain pieces of information.

Finally, Rose's impatient calls reached through her brain. "Earth to Love, do you copy?" Philos looked into the inky dark carriage and could barely make out Rose. "Let's go or we'll miss dinner! I want to see the sorting!"

With a curt nod, Philos hopped into the carriage and moments later the pair was joined by Albus and James Potter looking wind-blown and breathless. "Sorry ladies," James said pushing Rose further into the carriage. "This was the last carriage of decent people." He said and grinned at Albus whose smile faltered.

"How was your summer?" Albus asked to cover the brief silence that had suddenly enveloped the carriage as it jolted into movement.

Rose giggled a bit and then stared out the window with a small sigh, "It was wonderful!" She suddenly turned to Philos, eyes wide with excitement. "I wish you could've come with us Love! Paris is amazing, has so many fantastic sights." She winked at Philos who just smirked in reply.

"Yeah, I bet you anything you spent more time looking at the French boys rather than at the monuments," James said laughing and nudged her with his elbow.

"What about your summer Philos?" Albus asked ignoring the other two.

Philos turned her gaze onto the boy next to her and gave him a warm smile. "It was alright, nothing special. How was yours, Albus?"

Albus looked down at his hands and Philos could have sworn she saw a tinge of pink on his cheeks but then again it was much too dark in the swaying carriage to be sure. "It was ok. I spent most of it with the Malfoys. Dad wasn't too happy with me for it, but he still let me go over there." Albus shrugged his shoulder and turned to his head towards his own window.

Then, once more, Rose burst into a fit of giggles that she could not control. "You say that as if you don't know why your dad wouldn't be happy about it." She suddenly stopped laughing and turned a stern face to her younger cousin. "Albus Severus Potter, the Malfoys are not good people. Slytherins are not good people, so there is absolutely no reason on Earth why you should be associating yourself with such trash."

James chuckled appreciatively at this but stopped when he saw the look on Albus' face. The tips of his ears had turned beet-red and his jaw clenched together, and his hands balled into fists on his lap. "You're always forgetting that I am a Slytherin and I'm proud to be one. It’s better than running around pretending to be so brave but not doing anything important!"

"You know, my sister says the same thing," Philos breathed out, "but she always seems to be running the opposite way when the really important things happen." She turned her eyes onto Albus with a small smile. "I'm not saying that you are like her but you can't say that we are the ones who back away from a challenge."

Albus frowned but she no longer felt tension coming from him. With a glare in Rose's direction he looked back out the window and then a wide grin stretched across his face, "Hello Hogwarts!" The carriage stopped and he immediately jumped out of it. "Goodbye Gryffindorks and hopefully I'll see you around Philos." He blushed a bit at this but then turned and ran through the gigantic oak double-doors.

"Looks like someone has a crush on you Philos," James said hopping down from the carriage after her. She turned to look at him, in the pretense of waiting for Rose to clamber down from the carriage. He always looked so perfect and now he sort of reminded her of her father that day at the beach. The silvery light made his skin glow and it gleamed off of his jet black hair.

"I am not in the least bit surprised," Rose declared as she finally joined the pair. "It was bound to happen at some point."

"Not to mention that he's been asking Sophia about you every-time he saw her," James added laughing merrily. They all walked into the Entrance Hall and Philos tried very hard to keep her stomach from knotting up at the thought of Sophia and James together.

She plastered on an award-winning smile at the cousins and then shrugged. "Well, it's good to know that I have an admirer somewhere in this world." She rushed to the Great Hall and ran to the other end of the hall, bypassing the other tables for the one decked out in red and gold. They weren't her favorite colors but she had to admit, they were growing on her. They were bold and rich and daring. So she tried to imitate them by wearing colors just as loud, like the canary yellow T-shirt she was currently wearing.

"Riddle, you do realize that you didn't change into your uniform right?" A voice called from down the table. She turned towards it and nodded at Victoire Weasley.

"I do, thank you for pointing it out." She answered back sharply as Rose joined her at the table.

"If it happens again I will be forced to deduct points from our house and you will have no one to blame for losing the House Cup save yourself Riddle."

Philos paused for a moment to think about this and then grinned in response. "But it pays off at the end."

Victoire had the decency to look bemused as she thought about this. However, she came up empty and with a low growl asked the question whose answer she did not really want to know. "And how do you come up with that?"

The whole table stared at Philos as her grin widened, "Well first we'll win the Quidditch Cup as we do every year." The whole table erupted with applause and when this died down Philos continued, "And then you will graduate and we'll never have to deal with you again. Meaning we'll get the House Cup next year." People have often asked why she wasn't in Slytherin like the rest of her family had been. She was after-all the heir of Slytherin and well she did have a very snide streak in her. But for the most part Philos was not lacking in courage and recklessness when it came to protecting those close to her.

Victoire gave Philos a dreadful glare that people normally would have backed down from but Philos simply smiled sweetly back at her and waved. Victoire opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by a silver spoon tapping gently on a crystal cup. The Headmistress was standing up to give her annual welcome back speech and all attention turned to her.

Some teachers like Professor Longbottom claimed that in the old days she was a stern teacher, who would insist on her students always looking prim and proper. Of course that was over 20 years ago, but now Professor McGonagall was worn down by her struggle against time. Her hair was tied loosely at the nape of her neck, pure white against her violet robes. She held up a wrinkled hand to the students for silence. It was an unnecessary habit of hers.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts," she greeted, her voice floating across the hall slowly. "Hopefully it will be just as peaceful as it has been these past 20 years. But that is a topic that we do not need to bring up." Professor McGonagall drew in a deep breath and smiled at the students serenely before continuing. "I would like to make a few announcements before we begin our feast. First I would like to say that we have yet again, another teacher joining our staff. Professor Griffin has not recovered from a bout with the cold over the summer and will not be rejoining us so I want you all to give a warm welcome to Horatio Withers who will take over Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"This is every year," James whispered loud enough for Philos and Rose to hear.

"But he's really cute, so no complaints here," Rose whispered back. James snorted and the Headmistress' eyes briefly met his, a small smile on her lips. He grinned back at her and Philos saw him move back so that he was no longer leaning close to Rose.

"With this addition I would also like to introduce our new Potion's Master, as Professor Slughorn has since decided to officially resign from the post, Jacob Alexis."

"Also very fit," Rose whispered into Philos' ear and she couldn't help but to agree.

"And finally we have our new Game Keeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor, Demelza Robins. Alas, our late Game Keeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher has passed on to a better place over the summer. Let's have a moment of silence in memory of our good friend, Rubeus Hagrid." The whole hall fell silent, many bowing their heads, whispering quick prayers for the soul of the much-loved staff-member. Hagrid had been there since before even her father was born and he was never anything short of a loyal friend.

"Now, enough of the somber faces," the Headmistress exclaimed, clapping her hands together with as much force as her little body could muster. Suddenly food of all kinds appeared on sparkling plates and an empty golden plate appeared in front of each student and staff member. "Dig in!"

Philos wasted no time in attacking the food before her. It had been a full two months since the last time that she had had a decent meal. She piled her plate with roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and a goblet filled with sweet iced tea in lieu of the usual pumpkin juice. Philos loved pumpkins but preferred it solid and cooked into pies, not in her cup.

"So we have some hot teachers this year," Rose stated as she poked her food with disdain.

James shook his head from next to her and sighed. "You do realize that the Defense Against the Dark Arts position is cursed, right? Dad told me so, but it should've disappeared with the caster died."

"Maybe the caster didn't die," Rose said with a shrug.

"My dad killed him Rose."

Philos glanced at the pair and then thought about this for a moment. Then she shrugged it off, "Maybe it's like what happened to the Longbottoms," she said out loud. Rose and James stared at her with blank looks so she continued. "Well, Bellatrix Lestrange died, didn't she? But Alice and Frank Longbottom didn't regain consciousness afterwards. So her curse didn't wear off, it just keeps on going."

James shook his head with a sigh. "They never got better because they were damaged by the curse but the curse itself wasn't lasting. The Cruciatus Curse goes away the second it's lifted but when it is over-used it can damage the mind."

"That's true," Rose added.

Philos nodded her head. "I stand corrected, and that is probably why you're the best in DADA in our year." She said with a grin, James responded in kind and her stomach felt like it was river dancing.

An hour and twenty thousand laughs later the students were interrupted from their merriment by Professor McGonagall rising slowly to her feet and laboring to the podium. "I suppose it's time for the usual announcements now. I feel the need to remind everyone that magic in the corridors is strictly forbidden as is the Forbidden Forest, thus earning its name. I also want to warn against using tricks from the Weasley Wizard Wheezes, the Caretaker has had quite enough of the mischief and the amount of cleaning that they cause. For more items that are banned in school please refer to the list posted outside the Maintenance Room on the other side of the Entrance Hall. With that I would like you all to work very hard this year in your studies. Remember: free periods are to be used for studying not nonsense. Now off you go everyone. As Albus Dumbledore often said, "May your dreams take you on courses uncharted."

Philos stood up and stretched, feeling 3 pounds heavier than when she had come off the carriage. "Well looks like the year has officially started. Wonder what kinds of mischief we'll cause this year?"